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Final Fantasy VII: Redemption
This story obviously takes place in the universe of Final Fantasy VII. It starts after the events of Dirge of Cerberus. The main theme of this story is Reeve using his power in the WRO to rebuild the world after the Deepground War and to make right all the suffer that has befallen on his friends. Back to normal It was more than a week since Vincent Valentine and the WRO had ended Deepground War and saved the world. Vincent was nowhere to be found. Cloud immediately started to search for him. However, Cloud couldn't find anything in or around Midgar. In the end Cloud searched almost the entire Eastern Continent. However, it was Shelke who figured that Vincent was in the Crystal Cave and brought him back. Now that the old gang was complete again they celebrated their victory at Villa Cloud in Costa del Sol. They swam in the sea, played at the beach and had dinner at the local restaurant. Yuffi asked Cloud and his family the painfull question: "why on Earth did you started to live in that junktown Edge if you have a Villa over here?!" It was nice since it had been over a year since they even spoke each other. After the first night Vincent left the group with only a "take care" for goodbye. The others also left one by one after a few days. Shelke stayed, she had nowhere to go and had become the third child of Cloud's family. Exodus Act On a morning the children (including Shelke) demanded that they would have lunch at the bar next to Cloud's Villa. They were all sitting on a large table. Three children on one side and Cloud and Tifa on the other. Cloud and Tifa really looked like young parents with their children. There was a television in the bar. The family had ignored it the whole time, but now the WRO tune sounded clearly. Cloud and Tifa knew this could be a very important announcement. So, they turned around and saw Reeve appearing on the screen. "Good day People of the Planet, On behalf of the General Assembly of the World Genesis Organisation I want to make two announcements. The WRO forced have turned Midgar inside out. We couldn't find any trace of Deepground Soldiers or any other threads." Everyone in the bar breathed a sigh of relief. Some youth raised their glasses and yelled. "The mayors of Edge, Kalm and Junon have held an emergency meeting with the WRO top and President ShinRa to discuss the energy and food crisis treatening the cities. The first step in their road to a solution is stated in what they have called the Exodus Act. This is the summary: "Whereas ShinRa will be unable to produce alternative fuels on a sufficient scale in the near future, Whereas import of food, water, medicins and other products to the cities will be insufficient to sustain its population, Whereas the cities unemployment rates will rise, Whereas the cities increased poverty levels threatens the stability of the region, whereas the situation of a large population in close proximity to Midgar-based calamities have lead to unnecessary loss of life and further complication of any counter action, we, the Member of the General Assembly: *Mayor of Edge, *Mayor of Kalm, *Mayor of Junon, *Rufus ShinRa, President of the Shinra Electric Power Company, *Reeve Tuesti, head of the WRO, *Dio, CEO of Gold Saucer and de facto ruler of the Western Continent, *Godo Kisaragi, the leader of the nation of Wutai, have decided that every man and women under 30 which isn't born of the Eastern Continent have to emigrate and return to its native region before April the first, this year. "On behalf of the General Assembly, I would like to apologize to those affected by the Exodus Act and express our best wishes for a successful relocation. Your noble and selfless sacrifice ensures the continued safety and peace of our society. Were it not for this remarkable gesture, every resident of the Eastern Continent, your family, your friends, your neighbours, would be exposed to the dangers of overpopulation: unemployment, poverty, pandemics, violence and crime." Cloud and Tifa kept staring at the television and then stared at each other. "Does that mean we have to leave the Seventh Heaven, Tifa?" "Marlene... kids," Cloud said, "can we during this lunch pretend we didn't hear that?" On the seventh day in Costa del Sol, Shelke and Tifa were still sunbathing at the beach. "Tifa? How long can we stay here?" With a satisfying smile Tifa answered, "as long as we like." "But surely, if you lose your bar... how are you gonna make a living? And Cloud, can't he continue with his delivery work from here?" "Cloud and I don't really have to work for our money. We have millions of gil and Gold Pieces, all collected on our journeys. Furthermore, just before the Deepground War we sold a huge amount of Materia to the WRO. Materia's a quite rare... and priceless, particularly the Summons. Cloud and I also have a few priceless Gold and Black Chocobo's. On top of tha, we could sell our villa for 300,000 gil." Shelke was dazzled by what she heard. "Then why do you maintain a bar in the first place?" "When Cloud, Barret and I came back in Midgar, it was terrible. Cloud and I believed it would make the shocked and shattered people of Midgar happy if there was a cosy bar in their town. Marlene really wanted us to start a bar again. We never intended to make profit. Cloud later started a delivery service to have an excuse to be on the road all day on his motorcycle and cross the world." Shelke never looked at it that way. Tifa was afraid for the obvious question that was coming. "What are you two gonna do now?" Tifa was looking into the ocean. She really didn't have to close the Seventh Heaven. Her old friend Johnny had opened a bar in their neighbourhood, and he had to earn a living with that place. She could give the Seventh Heaven to him. Cloud also didn't have to keep his delivery service. Roads were improving and the non-militairy use of fuel was prohibited. As a result, Cloud and his motorbike were no longer the best way to deliver packages. Furthermore, Reeve had been urging Cloud to join the WRO or the local police. In that way he could use his strength to help others. Denzel and Marlene didn't have to live in Edge. They had no emotional ties with the city since they only lived there for only a few years. There were no schools in Edge. Furthermore, the Jenova War and the Deepground War had shown that Edge was dangerously close to all major calamities of their time. New Mission Cloud had listened to this conversation from a distance. "When are you finally gonna ask her out?" Cloud turned around and saw Cait Sith on its giant Moogle. Cloud ignored the question. "Hello Reeve. Nice speech you gave on the telly." "I have to thank you again for the lovely days I had at your Villa. I really needed a short holiday after the whole Omega-thing." "Good to hear." Cloud turned his face to the ocean again. "However Cloud", Reeve continued, "I am back at work now. I would really like your help with my next project." For an instant Cloud panicked. Was there another treat to the Planet he had to deal with? "Don't be afraid. It is nothing serious. I just want you and Tifa to accompany me to Nibelheim." As soon as her heard the name of that town, he automatically said "not interested." "SOLDIER First Class Cloud Strife. I can't tell you why I want to go to Nibelheim. However, I can assure you that this mission can prevent further calamities. It might even enable us to atone for the suffer that happend to our mutual friends." Cloud kept staring at the ocean. "Cloud, I know you will fight to the death when a next calamity hits the world. Why won't you help me to predict any future calamity and prevent it before it even starts to manifest?" Cloud shook his head. "Sephiroth is dead, the Weapons are gone and Omega has returned to the Planet. If we have reached the point that we have to search for enemies..." "Sephiroth was made of Jenova cells. Jenova is not from this world. Her life force isn't compatible with our Planet's lifestream.Professor Hojo implies this in The Girl Who Travels the Planet. Therefore, Sephiroth can never be fully death." Cloud remained silent for a moment. "Let us ask Tifa." Cloud walked to Tifa and showed her their new guest. "Reeve? Is that you controlling this cat robot?" "Greetings Tifa, good to see you again. Would you and Cloud do a WRO mission to Nibelheim?" Tifa looked at Cloud. None of them both wanted to see the village, it triggered their darkest memories. Furthermore, it hurt them to see it populated with fake people. Sephiroth and Hojo had either killed or deformed all inhabitants. ShinRa had rebuilt the village and populated it with ShinRa employees who worked at the secret research center. Tifa looked at the cat for a moment and asked, "can you be more detailed?" Cait Sith jumped from the moogle and sat next to Tifa. "The mission is like this. I want you and Cloud to travel to Nibelheim ASAP. You two have to guard the ShinRa Manor from Februari 30th 0010, 845 hours. You two must stop anyone from entering that building until WRO troups will arrive." Cloud immediately objected. "I haven't got enough fuel to reach Nibelheim. Furthermore, even if I could get fuel, we can never reach Nibelheim before Februari 30th. We have to circumvent the entire Western Continent with three river crossings by boat. It is impossible." "Not necessarily," said Cait Sith, "you can drive to North Corel. From there you can cross the mountains." "There is no easy way through the Corel Mountains for a motorcycle." "No, but you can cross them with a Golden Chocobo!" Cloud was digging that for a moment. "We've left Hyperion in Gold Saucer..." Cait Sith interupted, "I can ask Dio to send Hyperion to North Corel. If you two leave now, you can still make it before Februari 30th." Cloud looked at Tifa. Tifa could see from Cloud's face that didn't wanted to come anywhere near Nibelheim. Tifa had a similar feeling, but she said one word: "Gilligan". Cloud frowned and sighed when he heard that name. Cloud looked at Shelke, "can you take care of the kids when we're gone?" She smiled, "I am a Tsviet! I can protect this entire town while you're gone." "Alright," Cloud said, "we'll accept this mission. It better be worth the rush!" Cait Sith had a WRO contract and a pen with him. Cloud and Tifa signed the contract. "Well, off you go then." Cait Sith jumped back on the moogle and ran off. Twenty minutes later Tifa and Cloud had showered and packed their bags. The kids had made sandwiches for them. Cloud drove Fenrir to the mountains in the west, Tifa sat behind him with her arms around him. This was gonna be a long journey. Corel After a long ride following the railway through the mountains they finally reached North Corel. North Corel was just a collection of crude dwellings, with little of the advanced technology. It looked more like a tent camp in a junkyard than a settlement. This was all that remained of Barret's old mining village Corel. The attraction in this village was the ropeway to Gold Saucer. Cloud parked Fenrir next to the Weapons Store. Tifa had jumped off earlier and was doing yoga exercises. It wasn't like her to be sitting for soo long. Cloud opened his phone to check the time. "We're on schedule, Tifa." From the moment Cloud entered this town, he felt something was wrong with this place. He looked around and noticed there was no-one. It was an empty village! Cloud immediately checked the ropeway and he could see the cabin. Cloud drew his sword and walked to the cabin. When Tifa saw Cloud walking like this, she joined him. When they came near the cabin a large muscled man in shorts stepped outside. "Look! The two lovebirds have finally come. Cloud! Tifa!" Dio embraced both Cloud and Tifa, as if they were old friends. "If only I had known back then you would save the Planet, I would've bothered you less." "That is good to hear," Tifa smiled. "If you guys are ever having financial or emotional problems, I'll be there to help. But enough about that! Here, it is this beauty that you've come to collect." The Golden Chocobo stepped out of the cabin and greeted Cloud with the unexpected "Wark!" Tifa patted Hyperion and gave it grains. The bird was towering high over Tifa. Cloud remembered how Hyperion was born three years ago. He was soo small and cute back then. Golden Chocobo’s are very rare. Not even Joe, the world’s famous jockey, had one. After one month of catching and crossing chocobos from all over the Planet, they made the final crossbreeding. A small beak broke the egg shell and everyone was relieved when a ball of golden plumage appeared. With this bird they were able to swim to the Round Island. It was on this island that they received the Knights of the Round Materia. Without that summon, they never had defeated Sephiroth and Ruby Weapon. Cloud and Dio looked at the scene for a few seconds, and then Cloud came back to business. "What has happened to the townspeople, Dio." Dio smiled, "I gave them back their old town." Cloud stared at him for a few seconds. "Don't look at me like that. I am a responsible guy now. I’ll do my duty as the ruler of the Western Continent. No matter how long and boring those General Assembly meetings get.” “How will all those people survive in the middle of that desert?” “They will dig for coal again and I will pay them royally! Now that the Mako reactor of Gold Saucer and North Corel are not functioning anymore, I need those coals to keep my attractions running. Furthermore, I’m about to start the digging of a huge channel from the Waterfall Lake through the desert to Corel. That will give jobs to all those people moving in from Midgar. Hopefully, the green will return when the water is there.” Cloud and Tifa wish Barret was here to hair this, but he’d probably find out soon. Cloud remembered the sad state of Old Corel. Then he had to think about the destruction of his own hometown. It was then that Cloud remembered their mission. “We have to go, Dio. Thanks for helping us.” “’’De nada’’, mi amigo. I’ve packed a new supply of food for your journey, hope you like it.” Cloud rose and the Chocobo and Tifa sat behind him. “Well, off you go. When this is all over, please come racing again, Cloud.” “We’ll think about it.” After uttering that, they set off. “Gold Saucer is also a great place for getting married, you know.” Cloud and Tifa ignored those words. Over the mountains It was a long way over the mountains. Cloud had asked Tifa to read the news while he was driving the chocobo. Ever since Emperor Godo Kisaragi signed the ‘’Exodus Act’’, he has passionately encouraged all Wutaians to return to Wutai. After the Wutai War, millions of people left Wutai for Midgar and Junon in search for work and safety. Leaving their homeland uninhabited and powerless. Because of the Exodus Act the Wutaians have to leave the Eastern Continent. Wutai has send two fleets of traditional sailing ships to the Eastern Continent to pick up its “lost children” and “bring them home again.” In Junon the fleet docked yesterday and thousands of Wutaians were present, waving the Wutai flag. Emperor Kisaragi himself was on the flagship, giving a speech in which he urges all Wutaians to grab their belongings and sail home with him. In Kalm the other fleet has arrived, led by the nation’s famous beauty, princess Yuffie Kisaragi. She also gave a passionate speech at the cities square. According to an investigation, the initiative of the Kisaragies is working. Millions of people have either left their house or are in the process of selling them. The first ships, which were filled up to their maximum capacity, have already left the docks and are on their way to Wutai. The WRO has now officially started a Space program. President Tuesti issued that an efficient space force will prevent the landing of a second Jenova or the impact by meteorites. The members of the former Shinra Space Program we be employed for this project. The spacecrafts will be built in the Rocket Town area. Cid Highwind will be the main astronaut of the project. The predictions of Shinra’s Science Department about the energy crisis are still grim. As of this moment Shinra produces fuel from the few oilfields Barret Wallace had discovered. Shinra rebuild the Gold Saucer Mako Reactor into a fossil-fuel power station using the coal mined at the nearby Corel village. These resources will only just cover the demand by the WRO military and its upcoming Space Program. Shinra is also investigating the potentials of solar power and nuclear fusion. President Shinra urgest people to, until they have found a solution, refrain from the use of electricity as much as possible. The WRO military has successfully killed the last Midgardsormr snake. The snake was escaped from the Shinra Science Department Research Facility and hid in the Eastern Marshlands. For years it blocked the way of miners from Kalm from the Mythril Mines. Now that the monsters are killed, the way is open for miners again. The mayor of Kalm hopes this cause a drop in unemployment rates and an economic boom. Nibelheim Manor Nibelheim was a small village at the mouth of a ravine leading into the Nibelbergen. These mountains were different from all others in the region. Their mountains were high a pointy, jagged at the tops. Furthermore, their stones were of a blue-gray color. The village wasn't far from the highest peak this formation: Berg Nibel. Nibelheim had only seven timber framing styled houses, a Item Store and an Inn. No-one would care about this town if it wasn't near an important Mako Reactor. Furthermore, it housed a large research facility of ShinRa's Science Department; cleverly disguised as a mansion. Cloud rode the chocobo through the dark forest, Tifa sat behind him. Tifa and Cloud knew they were nearing Nibelheim. Their orders were to "guard" the Shinra Manor until the WRO troups had arrived. So, Cloud to an early turn that would lead them straight to the Mansion without seeing a glimpse of the village. There was the ShinRa Manor. Cloud hated the sight of that building ever since he was a kid. It was forbidden for any villager to come near to that place. All children were sure the place was haunted. The villagers always called in the "Haunted Manor". Now it looked even more haunted because the place had been abandoned for years now. The fence that surrounded the manor was utterly destroyed and the garden was overgrown. Cloud stopped the chocobo were the gate once stood. The mansion was build against the wall of rock. Therefore, it could only be entered through the front door. Tifa thought that to be the best spot to stand "guard". "Let's stand guard in front of the door, Cloud." Cloud didn't replied and followed Tifa to the door. The chocobo also followed. They stood with their back to the door and looked out for threats. All they could hear was the sound of the mountain winds and some birds. In the distance they could hear some sound of humans, but they couldn't be sure. Cloud got bored and remembered they had to keep a record on these missions. He took his phone and said: Entry 1 0010-02-30 834 hours ShinRa Manor, Nibelheim, Western Continent. Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockheard are stationed before the main entrance of the ShinRa Manor. No signs of treads. Weather... dry and clouded. End. Cloud closed his phone again and put it away. Tifa smiled for a moment. "I guess it could be worse, isn't it?" "I just wish I knew what is going on. I don't know if Sephiroth is about to resurrected again or if we're just here to collect another data disc like Vincent." After a while Tifa asked the painful question: "Do you think that... now we're here... we should enter the village again?" Cloud sighed. "You told me that I shouldn't grow demons in my mind anymore. I think this place is about to become such a demon. So, let's visit it more time when this is over." Tifa looked at Cloud proudly. Cloud had really lighted up in the last years. Cloud added, "we could sit on top of the water tower again." *** They heard the familiar sound of a helicopter. Later they saw the ShinRa helicopter of the Turks landing on the road near Cloud's bike. Cloud handed his phone over to Tifa. She opened it, took a few pictures and said: Entry 2 0010-02-30 904 hours ShinRa Manor, Nibelheim, Western Continent. ShinRa helicopter has landed in front of the Mansion. Turks are now entering the building. Among them are Rude and Reno and five others. End. Reno walked to Cloud and Tifa with a bored smile on his face. "Well well well. Doesn't this just figure. Good morning fair Tifa... and you Cloud. What brings you two to this romantic spot?" Tifa embraced Rude and shook Reno's hand. "Hello Reno, Good morning Rude. If you must know, access to this place has been restricted by the WRO. Reeve kinda hired us to prevent anyone from entering this place until he himself arrives." "As I said, doesn't that just figure?" Rude started said in his monotonous fashion: "We have been summoned to this place by ShinRa. Our orders include entering this place." Tifa was smiling. She knew that the only 'thread' that she and Cloud had to face were good old Reno and Rude. Cloud wasn't so happy about this. "I'm not gonna let you in, Turk. The WRO probably summoned me here solely to prevent you from entering this building." Reno demonstratively drew his rod. "Well, I'm not really allowed to let you stop me from executing my mission. I respect the WRO as much as you do... However, this building is kinda private property of Rufus ShinRa. I don't think WRO soldiers have the right to enter and occupy private property." Cloud demonstratively drew his sword but didn't know what to do. Tifa smiled at Rude, “will you fight ‘’me’’ Rude?” Rude kept silent for a moment. “Let us call our superiors and let them have a fight.” Reno lowered his rod and smiled, “great idea Rude. With the exception that ‘’they’’ have to call their superior. I’m not getting crosses on my record.” Tifa smiled and took Clouds phone. Cloud had Reeve’s personal number, so this shouldn’t take long. “Cloud? Did you make it?” “Good morning, Reeve. It’s Tifa. And yes, we made it to the Manor before Reno and Rude did.” “Thank Minerva! Cloud and you managed to arrive before the Turks.” Tifa smiled, “well they’re here now. They have orders to enter this building. Whatever you and Rufus think you can order us, we ‘’will not’’ fight each other. So, I advise you to have a talk with Rufus.” *** Reeve had an expensive haircut and wore a business suit. Reeve’s office was at the highest floor of the WRO HQ. It had windows looking out on the mountain ridge grown with trees. Multiple WRO logos hang on the walls. The eastern wall had an interactive world map with a lot of marks and dotted lines on it. Reeve had a large desk looking out at the mountains. On the desk was a picture of his parents. He also had a picture with him and the rest of AVELANCE at Costa del Sol. Rufus ShinRa was sitting against him. Once, this man was the most powerful man in the world. Reeve had the feeling that Rufus still fancied himself his superior. He had to be careful and show Rufus who was in charge here. Tifa had been on the speaker. Rufus and Reeve had given them orders to stay put until the discussion was over. Rufus and Reeve looked at each other for a moment. It was Rufus who broke the silence. “Well, it looks like our little game is over. I must say Reeve, well played.” “I anticipated that you wanted to strip that place before you handed it over to me.” “But ‘’how’’ were you soo certain?” “I’m not gonna tell who my little bird is. However, when it informed me you ordered the Turks to clear this place. My team calculated the Turks couldn't reach Nibelheim before 9:00u. I couldn't possibly get my forces there before the Turks arrived. We’re a little short of aircrafts lately. However, I knew Cloud and Tifa were still in Costa del Sol. Calculations showed that Cloud and Tifa could reach Nibelheim from Costa del Sol by chocobo just before the Turks." “Reeve, you know that Mansion is my private property. You can’t just order your troops to occupy my property.” “Maybe, but I will order it if it could save lives!” “Rufus… During the Deepground War I wanted to know what we were up against. I asked you for information about Deepground, chaos and Omega. You could only show me some of Scarlet’s files, which contained almost no information on these subjects. You told me that most data was still in the hardly guarded basement of Nibelheim. I’m outraged that you had been so sloppy with such valuable data.” “Well, I had a lot of other things on my mind during the past three years.” “I believe you. Nonetheless, I had to send Vincent to Nibelheim to collect information. He was almost ‘’killed’’ in the event. Furthermore, the data was almost lost to the enemy. That data was of pivotal importance for our victory. We could’ve been all dead!” Rufus was silent. He had expected Reeve to tell this story again. "When another calamity hits this Planet, Rufus, I want to know about it before it even happens. Therefore, I want to have all that data in a safe place in the WRO library.” “Reeve, we’ve talked about this before. If a new calamity would hit the Planet, I’ll be more than willing to share any intel I have about the subject. I shared all I knew about Deepground when you asked me. Why can’t you trust me?” “If I had known earlier about Deepground, we might have acted earlier. For all I know there is still danger lurking beneath the surface, and I’m not going to wait until it makes its first move. I want to have all helpful information now. This is a matter of global security.” *** In Nibelheim Cloud, Tifa and the Turks had to wait. They told each other about their actions during the Deepground War. The subject brought them closer. The Turks had also fought the Deepground troops when they attacked Edge. In the Battle for Midgar they had suffered severe losses. Reno walked a few meters away from the door and looked up to the building. “You know, Cloud. This is some pretty eerie place. It reminds me of that Ghost Square in Gold Saucer.” “We didn’t call it the “Haunted Manor” for nothing.” Reno laughed. “This place must really gave you a scare when you were kids.” “It really did. The town boys often dared each other to open this gate and take a few steps inside. If you did that, you were really something.” Reno asked, “and did you, Cloud?” Cloud didn’t answer. Therefore, Tifa started to tell the story. “Entering the Haunted Manor was the ultimate act of bravery for the boys. They often told me they would do it if I would watch. Many times the boys climbed over that fence bravely. However, it is a long walk from the fence to this door when you are little. Step by step the Manor becomes bigger and scarier. You start to walk slower and slower. You start to look around you and at the windows to see if there is something lurking inside. Mostly, all they could see behind those transparent curtains was utter darkness, which was even worse. Some say they saw a little sad girl with blonde hair behind the upper window. If they managed to get where you stand now Reno, their tiny child heart had lost all its courage. Your fear takes over your mind. You start to hear voices, footsteps… You expect that door to burst open any moment, and your worst nightmare to incarnate.” “None of the boys ever made it, except for him.” “Who”, asked Rude. “’’Nacht Ehrgeiz’’”, said Tifa, “he reached this door… and opened it. After all those years, I still remember that scene. We were all over there at the fence. If climbed over the fence to have a better view. Nacht was a brave black haired boy, he wanted to impress me more than anyone else. He reached the doors and knocked! None of us could believe it. We all held our breath. Then, Nacht opened the door. Luckily for us, the door opened to the outside. Nacht made a jump backwards with the door in his hand. When the door was open, Nacht ran a few meters towards us. Then he stood still and looked around. Nothing was coming after him.” “Behind the door there was only darkness. For all we knew, the darkness was infested with ghosts and monsters. We all thought Nacht would come back to us. Nacht had already achieved eternal fame in our group by opening the door. But he did not pull back.” Cloud remembered the event too. When he was a child, he had a terrible crush on Tifa. He had always wanted to be something that would impress her. Cloud had tried many times to reach the Manor’s gates. Just knocking on it would have been enough. But he didn’t have to heart for it. Then it was ‘’Nacht’’, his biggest bully, to open that bloody door. When Nacht opened that door, Cloud hated himself for not doing this before. The only thing he could do now was ‘’entering’’ the Manor for the first time. “It was then that Cloud ran to Nacht, he wanted to be the first to ‘’enter’’ the Manor. Both of them started to walk to the door. Nacht drew his knife, and Cloud had a baseball bat. When they walked up the stairs, they started to move ‘’really’’ slowly. I and the other girls started to make bets about who would enter the Manor first. Everyone thought it would be Nacht, except for Freja.” “Blablabla Tifa. You were just the cute girl sitting over there, giggling with her girlfriends,” Reno joked. “Cloud, ‘’you’’ were here! Tell me what happened?” Cloud looked at Reno. “Nacht and I didn’t dared take more stairs. Nacht said I was stealing his spotlight and that I should move off. I knew that if I didn’t enter that door… A Ghost came through the door. Nacht and I ran off in horror. We all screamed and ran back to the town square. None of us ever dared to come near this door again.” Cloud remembered that when they reached the well, the children felt safe again. Nacht had gotten back his cool. He stood there, laughing with his friends. Cloud had to run to his mother to comfort him. Cloud had nightmares for weeks. Nacht and his gang often confronted Cloud with the incident. Most of the time, Cloud started fighting without saying one word. “Not really the storyteller, aren’t ye Cloud,” Reno said. “Tifa told it better.” *** “Reeve, I’m sure that most information in the Manor won’t help you to prevent a hypothetical calamity. Why can’t I keep the data and share with you anything that could be helpful?” “I doubt that you or your scientists are fully able to make that distinction. The WRO has much more and better scientists then you have, Rufus.” “That is because you employed all ShinRa scientists before I could get my company back on its feet again.” *** While Tifa was still talking with Reno and Rude, Cloud had gotten bored. Cloud checked his phone. It was 10:00u already. Reeve and Rufus still hadn’t come to an agreement. Cloud didn’t liked this. We wanted to leave this place as soon as possible. Everything here brought back involuntary memories of his sad excuse for a youth. Tifa seemed to enjoy being here, though. The wooden door cracked open. A human-sized reptile, armed with a spear, was lurking behind it. Within a second, a knife hit it between the eyes and it dropped dead on the floor. Tifa and the others had seen what had killed the reptile. They looked to other way to see who had killed it. They saw Cloud with a big grin on his face. He took his phone to update his report. Entry 3 0010-02-30 1017 hours ShinRa Manor, Nibelheim, Western Continent. Strife disabled a Sahagin after it turned hostile. Going into the Manor to search for and disable further hostilities. End. “I don’t know about all of you,” Cloud said, “but I am very bored. I’m gonna clear to road for whoever is gonna collect Shinra’s secrets.” Reno smiled, “sounds practical.” They all walked in. The main hall was ‘’full’’ of Sahagins. Enough for all four of them. *** Reeve and Rufus were still talking. None of them had given the other an inch. “A company has the right to have some secrets. Are you gonna demand that ‘’Banora White’’ to make their juice recipe public?” “Rufus, Shinra has performed fundamental research about the universe, life and the Lifestream. This information is of no use for you, since you’re only a power company. It could help us to identify treads or develop weapons.” *** Cloud and the rest had been killing monsters for over half an hour. First they had clear the two levels of the Manor. After that, they had entered the basement. All four of them came into the Shinra’s secret laboratory. Cloud stared at two incubation tubes. Once of them had a hole in its side. Tifa picked up a lab journal from the floor. She read the final entries out loud: Failed Case #1: SOLDIER 1st Class Summary : Desired effect did not occur. Strong tolerance to Jenova cells due to SOLDIER conditioning assessed as cause. Failed Case #2: SOLDIER Shinra Infantryman Summary : Weak tolerance to Jenova cells led to toxicosis. Lack of response to outside stimuli suggests severe system damage. Recovery highly unlikely. They all looked at poor Cloud. That scientist couldn’t have been more wrong. Tifa turned a few pages back. There was a list of all the other townspeople that Hojo had captured and infected with Jenova cells to be turned into mindless Sephiroth-puppets in black cloaks. #01: Heiner Blitz. Male. 16 years old. Tifa and Cloud looked at an incubation tube that was marked “01”. It must have been this tube that had contained poor Heiner. Heiner was the only boy who hadn’t left the village with the others. So, it was Heiner that had asked Dio about the Black Materia. *** Rufus had gotten out of his chair and looked down at Reeve. “You see, Reeve. You have no right to take my documents like this. You can only take them if the entire Security Counsel agrees that they are vital for international security. As a member of the Security Counsel, I will never endorse that. They are still ShinRa’s legal property. Now, call your men and tell them to get out of the way.” *** Tifa continued to read the names. Cloud and Tifa knew them all. Cloud continued to stare at the tubes with tears in his eyes, until Tifa read the 7th name. #07: Claudia Strauss Strife. Female. 33 years old. When he heard the name of his mother, Cloud got a scare at first. Then his eyes turned angry. Tifa had seen it and stopped reading and put the journal away. Then Tifa uttered the same words she had said before: “I hate you... I hate Shinra... I hate SOLDIER... I hate you all...” Reno and Rude started to feel insecure. The sadness of Cloud and Tifa had turned into vehement anger. Tifa and Cloud both turned their gaze towards the Turks; the very Turks that captured their people. On Cloud’s and Tifa’s faces they could see mass destruction. “Guuuuys?” Cloud was the first to break the loaded silence. “Turks. I know we’ve been fighting on the same side for the last years. But for all I know, you only joined us to save yourselves. Now, if you let Shinra have a single snippet of all these papers, I take that as evidence that you are still no better than when you mutilated my mother. And if that is the case, I won’t rest until both of you are rotting in your graves!” *** Reeve was about to leave Rufus’ office when a call came from Tseng. Rufus had put the speaker on. Tseng had immediately connected him with Cloud. “Rufus Shinra. This is Cloud…” “Cloud? How did you…” “Shut up and listen, Shinra.” “Me and Tifa have just visited your family’s torture dungeon again. It has reminded me what kind of vermin Shinra used to be. Sure, you told me of your “epiphany”. Let me tell you something, Shinra, if you don’t hand over all these books and equipment to the WRO, I’ll take that as evidence that you are to same evil bastard that I fought 3 years ago. And I will cleave my sword soo deep into your skull that you have to be burried with it! And your easily-destroyable friends here can’t stop me.” *** The Turks had helped Cloud and Tifa to bring all equipment and documents outside, all the way up from the dungeons. Rufus had proposed to bring everything to the WRO HQ. It would save fuel for the WRO, and the fuel that Shinra used to travel to Nibelheim wouldn’t have been wasted. Cloud and Reeve were very skeptic of course, but fuel was very scarce. No-one could afford to waste it. Cloud and Reno carried the last box into the helicopter’s tonnage. Reno asked Cloud quitely, "when are you and Tifa finally moving to the next base of your friendship?" “Shut up.” ”You have to leave Edge now, right? Now you finally have an excuse to live in that villa again.” ”I said, shut up.” ”Geez, to think that I would’ve proposed you a lift from the place.” ”Me and Tifa will be fine, Reno. You better make sure nothing happens to this cargo.” ”Don’t worry. We won’t destroy it as soon as you’re out of sight.” *** The helicopter took off end turned east. They had parted as friends. Rude had said to them: “Just one final reminder, we are not the same people you fought 3 years ago.” Cloud and Tifa looked as the helicopter disappeared behind the mountains. After one minute they couldn’t even hear the helicopter. Everything turned quiet. Cloud and Tifa looked at each other, they were all alone again. They both knew they we officially still on a mission. Cloud took his phone and handed it to Tifa. “Here, could you ask Reeve if we can go home now?” “Reeve, please tell me this mission is over now?” “The mission is over for you two. You’ll receive you payments at the end of the week. You are free to go now. However, I have one final wish as a friend.” “Shoot,” said Tifa. “Could you two please check out the village? We’ve been unable to restore contact with them. I fear Rosso and her men wiped out the place.” Nibelheim Sources Category:Crossover Category:Final Fantasy VII